SystemCoDesigner

TLDR

SystemCoDesigner is an ESL tool from the University of Erlangen‑Nuremberg, Germany. It integrates behavioral synthesis via Forte Cynthesizer to automatically generate hardware accelerators from a SystemC model and explores the resulting design space with multi‑objective optimization. SystemCoDesigner delivers fast design‑space exploration and rapid FPGA prototyping, presenting optimized hardware/software solutions that bridge the ESL‑to‑RTL gap and boost early design confidence.

Abstract

SystemCoDesigner is an ESL tool developed at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. SystemCoDesigner offers a fast design space exploration and rapid prototyping of behavioral SystemC models. Together with Forte Design Systems, a fully automated approach was developed by integrating behavioral synthesis into the design flow. Starting from a behavioral SystemC model, hardware accelerators can be generated automatically using Forte Cynthesizer and can be added to the design space. The resulting design space is explored automatically by optimizing several objectives simultaneously using state of the art multi-objective optimization algorithms. As a result, SystemCoDesigner presents optimized hardware/software solutions to the designer who can select any of them for rapid prototyping on an FPGA basis. Thus, SystemCoDesigner bridges the gap from ESL to RTL and increases the confidence in early design decisions.